European stocks lower ahead of Fed’s Powell testimony ‎

European stocks recorded a slight decline in early trading today, Tuesday, and technology stocks led the decline ahead of the beginning of the testimony of Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve (US Central Bank) in Congress, while luxury goods companies gave up their gains due to gloomy Chinese data.

According to “Reuters”, the European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.1 percent by 0816 GMT, with the technology stock index, which is highly sensitive to the movement of interest rates, falling by 0.8 percent.

Powell’s congressional testimony, which is scheduled to begin at 1500 GMT, is of interest as it will include references to the Fed’s next move on interest rates.

Chinese trade data showed a decline in exports and imports in January and February, which indicates continued weakness in demand for the country’s products.